Duane Johnson |
Firmly strapped into the only remaining passenger seat of an airplane, barf bag perched at my beck and call, I was surrounded by the precious cargo I had raised all summer in preparation for this very day. It started out as a gentle flight, but quickly became the wild ride I had been promised.
Jagged mountain tops towered over us directly out the window as we took our initial dive into
a deep chasm in search of our drop zone. “Let ‘em go!” were the only words the pilot directed at me that early autumn day over the piercing sounds of the low altitude alarms. As the emerald treetops gave way to cobalt glacier formed lakes of the Sierra Nevada’s western slope, an instant rush of air flooded the cabin when I pushed the lever, opening the door in the belly of the plane. We pulled out of our dive-bomb and banked hard left, as if avoiding return fire, to look out the window and ensure our payload had hit its intended mark. An “affirmative” from the pilot to the copilot meant a job well done, and it was off to our next target.
a deep chasm in search of our drop zone. “Let ‘em go!” were the only words the pilot directed at me that early autumn day over the piercing sounds of the low altitude alarms. As the emerald treetops gave way to cobalt glacier formed lakes of the Sierra Nevada’s western slope, an instant rush of air flooded the cabin when I pushed the lever, opening the door in the belly of the plane. We pulled out of our dive-bomb and banked hard left, as if avoiding return fire, to look out the window and ensure our payload had hit its intended mark. An “affirmative” from the pilot to the copilot meant a job well done, and it was off to our next target.
Field and Stream |
The peaks of the high Sierra’s, named by Spanish explorers for their resemblance to the teeth of a saw, have limited road access. Trout stockings in remote lakes, intended to increase recreational angling opportunities, were initiated in the mid 1800s, and painstakingly carried out by barrel carrying mule trains. Following World War II, an abundance of planes and pilots led to widespread trout stocking by aircraft throughout the Rockies and Sierra Nevadas.
Stocking airplanes are outfitted with numerous small compartments that hold trout fingerlings intended for each target, and a final delivery hopper is fed through tubes by switches and levers. Altitude, shoreline shape, surrounding topography, wind speed, and wind direction must all be accounted for in the approach, and the recent incorporation of Global Positioning Systems has increased target identification and dropping accuracy.
Mule train carrying trout fingerlings for stocking in Idaho circa 1944 (cardcow.com) |
Stocking airplanes are outfitted with numerous small compartments that hold trout fingerlings intended for each target, and a final delivery hopper is fed through tubes by switches and levers. Altitude, shoreline shape, surrounding topography, wind speed, and wind direction must all be accounted for in the approach, and the recent incorporation of Global Positioning Systems has increased target identification and dropping accuracy.
Field and Stream |
Aerially stocked trout contributed to the reduction of endangered mountain yellow-legged frog populations in glacier formed high mountain lakes of the Sierra Nevadas. |
Patrick Cooney
Videos of airplane stocking (from Field and Stream):
Further reading:
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